Louisiana Axe Murders: Clementine Barnabet and the Church of Sacrifice

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Clementine Barnabet was born in
the year 1894, during a

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tumultuous time when Black
people were expected to submit

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to white supremacy in exchange
for meager education and

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opportunities.
While WEB Dubois made history as

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the first African American to
earn a PhD from Harvard

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University, countries like
France and Russia formed

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opportunistic military
alliances.

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Meanwhile, William Kennedy Dixon
patented motion picture films

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and Coca-Cola began its rise to
global domination.

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But amidst these so-called
advancements, the bubonic plague

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ravaged Hong Kong, leaving
thousands dead.

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This was the world Clementine
entered as she lived with her

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parents, Raymond Barnabet, a
petty criminal prone to violent

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outbursts towards his family,
and Nina Porter.

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They moved around often and
finally settled in Lafayette,

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LA, where they lived in poverty
among their unclean, deceptive,

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corrupt neighbors.
The family's involvement with

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the Church of Sacrifice, a cult
that believed in human sacrifice

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as a means to wealth and eternal
life, only added to the turmoil

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of their lives.
At just 17 years old, Clementine

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rose to a position of leadership
within the cult.

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Her childhood was filled with
neglect and mystery, often

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overshadowed by the struggles of
African Americans in southern

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Louisiana at the time.
Lynching was rampant, and many

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black people were forced to
leave in search of better

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opportunities elsewhere.
Yet amidst this injustice,

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movements like the NAACP fought
for civil rights for families

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like Clementines.
Living conditions were poor, and

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homes were made from scraps of
material leftover from wealthy

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homes.
Mental illness may have also

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been present in Clementine's
life, but little was known or

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understood about it during that
time period.

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It was no secret that her father
had been a philandering and

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abusive man.
She had suffered through his

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brutal treatment, as had her
mother and brother.

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One can only imagine the lasting
scars this would leave on a

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young girl's psyche.
But when she joined the cult,

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she quickly rose to become their
priestess, a position of power

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and control that must have been
exhilarating for someone who had

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been under her father's
oppressive grip for so long.

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And while leading this cult that
believed in sacrificing humans,

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it is rumored that Clementine
committed her first murder.

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A family of four in the nearby
town of Rayne, LA.

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This area was made-up of small
towns along the Southern Pacific

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Railroad line, providing ample
opportunities for undetected

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movement.
The victims were never

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identified by race, but based on
my research, I believe they were

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likely a black family.
According to newspaper clippings

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from 19 O 9200, armed men with
bloodhounds were on the hunt for

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the perpetrator who had
assaulted Miss Edna Opelousas

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before barbarically slaughtering
her and her three children.

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His capture and inevitable
lynching were expected to occur

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within hours.
Clementine herself came from an

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esteemed Louisiana family that
held ownership over the town of

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Opolis.
But as tensions escalated and

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accusations flew, even women
were not safe from arrest in

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this small community where
lynchings were a looming threat.

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It was a dark night when Edna
and her children met their

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grizzly end, bludgeoned to death
with a merciless axe that hacked

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at their bodies, leaving them
dismembered and decapitated in a

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macabre display.
Two years passed before another

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body was found, that of Walter
Byers, his wife and young son,

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all brutally murdered in the
same manner.

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Their skulls split.
Open and their bed sheets soaked

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with blood with no signs of
forced entry.

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It was believed that the killer
had entered through the back

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window, and once again the
weapon of choice was an axe left

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stained with blood and propped
up next to a bucket filled with

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their life force.
The local newspaper dubbed it

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the most savage slaying in the
history of this region.

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But just a month later, another
family fell victim to the same

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fate.
The Andrus family, parents and

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two children, all killed in
identical fashion.

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The mother and father were
positioned kneeling by their bed

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as if frozen in prayer before
meeting their brutal end.

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The blood stained axe lay at the
foot of their bed, a gruesome

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scene that left the police
reeling.

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They quickly realized that these
murders were connected all the

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work of a single horrifying
monster.

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Just a month later, another
family in Texas met the same

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horrific fate.
The railroad ran through this

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area, providing a potential
escape route for the killer.

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The authorities scrambled for
leads, but with limited forensic

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technology of the time, no DNA,
no luminol, no tire tracks to

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analyze, they faced an uphill
battle.

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But then Hope appeared in the
form of a woman's confession to

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her friend about her suspicions
of her lover's involvement in

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the murders.
And who was this lover?

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None other than Clementine's
father, Raymond.

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He was arrested and his family
questioned.

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His wife and children testified
against him, recounting how he

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had returned home late on the
night of the murders with blood

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and brain matter on his clothes.
His son even claimed that his

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father had bragged about
committing the heinous acts,

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citing twisted justifications
from their cult's beliefs that

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the victims deserved it for
disobeying messages from God.

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Both Clementine and Zephyrin
describe their terror of their

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own father and how it was safer
for everyone if he was locked

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up.
After all, he was a lifelong

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criminal.
Raymond was found guilty and

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sent to prison, but yet another
murder occurred while he awaited

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his sentence.
Norbert Randall and four of his

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loved ones brutally killed in
Lafayette using the same method.

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A fatal blow behind the right
ear with an axe.

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But Norbert was shot in the
head, a brutal end to his life.

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His daughter returned home to a
gruesome sight, realizing too

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late that she had been spared
from witnessing her father's

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murder.
The killer was still at large

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and fear gripped the town of
Lafayette.

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A gathering was held at Good
Hope Baptist Church where

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citizens urged each other to
lock their doors and keep

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weapons close by for protection.
Then a witness came forward

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claiming to have seen Clementine
prowling around the Randall

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residence.
Everyone knew who they were

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talking about immediately.
The infamous Clementine known

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for her strange ways.
Police searched her home and

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found a dress covered in blood
and brain matter.

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The door latch was also smeared
with blood.

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Both Clementine and her brother
were arrested.

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Zephyrin easily provided an
alibi for the night of the

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murders, while Clementine could
not.

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Their home was searched and more
damning evidence was discovered

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in her closet, clothes soaked in
blood.

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Initially she denied any
involvement but eventually

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confessed.
At first, she blamed her cult

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partners, claiming they wanted
to test a voodoo charm for

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protection, but then she turned
the finger to her brother,

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alleging that he was responsible
for the killings.

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However, during her testimony,
she absolved her father of any

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role in the murders, ultimately
saving him from execution.

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Despite his cruel nature, she
insisted that he did not

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participate in the heinous acts.
A newspaper article described

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Clementine's courtroom outburst
as she laughed maniacally and

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rolled her eyes back, revealing
only slivers of pupils.

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She recounted how she had snuck
into the Randall family's cabin

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on a Sunday night with an axe
hidden in her dress, seeking

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retribution for their defiance
against the church.

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She coldly described how she
swiftly murdered the sleeping

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couple and their four children
with calculated swings of her

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axe.
The youngest children were

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killed instantly with one blow
each, while she mercilessly

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hacked at the bodies of the
older children, leaving them

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unrecognizable.
As she finished her harrowing

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tale, she swayed back and forth
in her chair, a vacant look in

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her eyes.
And that ain't all, she said

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with a twisted smirk.
I took pleasure in caressing

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their lifeless bodies after I
hacked them into pieces.

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She tried to justify her heinous
actions by claiming she only

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killed the children to save them
from becoming orphans.

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But there was more to this
twisted story.

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Norbert Randall, brother-in-law
of Alexander Andrus, was also

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involved in the sacrificial
church at the center of these

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murders.
It seemed like everyone in that

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community had ties to the
gruesome acts being committed

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The Christ sanctified Holy
Church where the murders

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occurred on Sunday nights when
the worshippers were caught up

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in a fervent religious frenzy.
Clementine didn't act alone.

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Some of her victims were
accomplices as well.

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One crime scene even had a
chilling Bible verse scrawled on

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the wall in blood.
When he maketh the Inquisition

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for blood, he forgets.
Not the cry of the humble.

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After each murder, the killers
would perform elaborate rituals

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and chance to appease the
teachings of their twisted

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church and throw off any
potential investigations.

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But despite their efforts,
Clementine eventually confessed

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to killing 35 people and was
sentenced to life in prison at

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Angola State Penitentiary at
just 18 years old.

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In 1913, she attempted to escape
but was caught and underwent a

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procedure that supposedly
restored her mind, most likely a

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lobotomy.
But even that couldn't erase her

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dark deeds and the horrors she
inflicted on so many innocent

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lives.
In the hot, humid Louisiana,

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August of 1923, Clementine
Barnabet was released from

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prison and vanished without a
trace.

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Some say she disappeared into
thin air decades later.

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A woman visited her centenarian
grandmother in 1985 and heard

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the tale of Clementine.
After her grandmother's death,

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she stumbled upon an aged
portrait of her grandmother that

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bore a striking resemblance to
Clementine.

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It is plausible that she may
have assumed a new identity to

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evade detection, but the mystery
of whether or not this woman

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truly was Clementine remains
unsolved.

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In our second story, we delve
into the tragic fate of Eskatapa

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Jane Doe, a victim of one of the
most notorious serial killers in

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history, Samuel Little.
During his life, Little

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confessed to taking the lives of
over 90 women, and authorities

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have reason to believe that
Eskatapa Jane Doe was one of

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them.
It wasn't until September of

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2021, after years of being known
only as a petite black woman

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with a gold front tooth found
near a Mississippi highway, that

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she was finally identified as
Clara Birdlong, a name that held

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both fear and sorrow for her
family.

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But it wasn't until January that
her DNA was matched to her 93

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year old grandmother, finally
bringing closure to this

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unsolved case and giving Clara
the recognition and dignity she

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deserved.
However, the investigation was

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far from finished.
This year, law enforcement spoke

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with a witness who shared the
account of their final moments

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with Clara.
She was.

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Reportedly last.
Seen in her hometown of Lafleur

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County, Mississippi, with a
black man who claimed he was

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headed to Florida.
Sadly, the witness never saw

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Clara again.
Samuel Little lived a long life

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filled with unlawful.
Acts.

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Such as theft, assault, rape and
murder.

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And he travelled across the
state committing heinous crimes.

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His reign of terror.
Is said to have lasted from 1970

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to 2005, but it's believed that
he may have started even earlier

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in the 1960s and continued until
as late as 2012, when he was

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finally convicted of multiple
offenses.

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His victims were subjected to
sexual violence and brutal

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beatings before being strangled.
Little received 4 consecutive

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life sentences without any
chance for parole.

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Just one month before his death,
he admitted to two additional

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murders, one of which another
man had been wrongly imprisoned

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for.
News 5 investigates a.

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Cold case solved after 44.
Years Tonight we spoke

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exclusively to an investigator
and the family of the victim

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known for decades as Escatawpa
Jane Doe.

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Gabby Easterwood's been
following the story for quite

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some time.
Gabby, how was this case finally

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solved?
Well, some new technology,

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Peter.
And this year, investigators

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were able to use her DNA to
create a family tree and

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eventually identify her.
Clara Bird Long's body was

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dumped in 1977 along Interstate
10 in Jackson County,

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Mississippi.
Investigators believe she was

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murdered several months before
the remains were found, and she

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was killed by a notorious serial
killer, Sam Little, 44 years

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after her brutal murder.
We now know her name, Escatapa

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Jane Doe, identified by DNA as
Clara Birdlong of Greenwood, Ms.

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Birdlong family was very small,
so it's not that many of us.

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And Isaac Birdlong says his
cousin Clara was a free spirit.

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While most of the family stayed
rooted in the Mississippi Delta,

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Clara ventured out.
She was, she was, she was a

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jokester.
She always had interesting

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stories to tell, so when we
would go visit her we just

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listened to her adventures about
her travels and stuff.

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Those stories stopped when Isaac
was 16.

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Clara hit the road, never to be
heard from again.

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A drifter, the kind of woman
Pascagoula police's Lieutenant

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Darren Versauga says would have
caught the eye of the US, is

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00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,400
most prolific serial killer.
And that would be right up Sam

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Little's alley.
Sam Little confessed to Clara's

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00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:38,080
murder and 92 others before he
died in a California prison in

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00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:40,160
2020.
If she actually went to a

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horror.
But just listen to Sam Little

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and his confessions, what he did
and how he treated them.

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Little remembered gruesome
details about the killing, but

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with so many victims, he
couldn't recall Clara Birdlong's

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00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,280
name.
In fact, for decades no one made

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00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:58,200
the connection and told
Pascagoula police started

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00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:02,480
digging into cold cases and.
In doing all this background

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00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,880
information and all this finding
these cases that nobody even

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00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,960
knew existed, I found the
skeletal remains of who we now

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00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,920
know as Clara Birdlong.
Then the case began to break

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when Versauga put little on the
Mississippi coast in 1977,

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00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,440
arrested in Pascagoula for a
petty crime there the same year,

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00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:27,040
Clara was killed.
But back then, missing African

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00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,200
American woman just wasn't a
priority for police.

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00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,560
Especially in the 70s,
especially in the South, if she

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00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:34,280
had come over here somewhere
that, you know, they were like,

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00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,040
who are they going to call?
Who was going to get up out of

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00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,640
their chair and go look for an
African American woman in the

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00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:41,280
70s?
Probably nobody.

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00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,320
Times changed.
So did technology and the

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00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,960
tenacity of investigators.
We gave her name back, and it's

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00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:52,000
probably one of the most
fulfilling moments in law

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00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,040
enforcement that I think I've
ever experienced.

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00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,400
I put murders in jail.
I put rapists in jail.

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00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,480
But this one, just some reason,
I guess because she's so long

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00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:03,160
forgotten.
But not by Isaac and the few

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00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,680
family members who remained back
in Greenwood.

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00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:09,320
There's a bit of sadness that
that she had to go that way.

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00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,280
It just resolved a lot of
questions we had, you know, so I

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00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:13,840
could give, you know, everyone
else the answer.

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00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,280
Currently working with the
Mississippi State Legislature on

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00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,200
a new bill that could create a
database of missing people and

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00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,840
cold cases so people like Clara
will never be forgotten again.

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Thank you for tuning in to No
Tears for Black Girls.

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00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,160
This series is skillfully
crafted by acclaimed writer and

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00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:39,240
producer Jon Reedberg with the
guidance of unapologetic host

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00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,600
Samantha Paul.
Catch new episodes every Tuesday

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00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,520
and Thursday on all major
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00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,720
You can listen anywhere,
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00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:53,240
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